Cauvery dispute: Karnataka reluctant to give water to Tamil Nadu

Bangalore: The Karnataka government is refusing to budge in the Cauvery water sharing dispute. The state government is reluctant to give water to Tamil Nadu for paddy crop despite the Supreme Court's order. The Jagadish Shettar-led Karnataka government is looking at other legal options.

This came after the apex court directed Karnataka to release 2.44 tmc of water to Tamil Nadu for the paddy crop. The court also observed that this limit will not adversely affect Karnataka's drinking water requirement. Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar held an all-party meeting on Wednesday to discuss the issue, but the meet was inconclusive.

On February 4, the Supreme Court had also slammed the Centre for not notifying the order given by the Cauvery Water Tribunal five years ago. It directed the Centre to notify the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal award by February 20.

Earlier on January 30, Karnataka had told the Supreme Court that it cannot spare any more water for Tamil Nadu as it would affect the water needs of its own people.

The court was hearing cross petitions by Tamil Nadu and Karnataka rooted in the September 19, 2012 interim order of the Cauvery River Authority (CRA) directing Karnataka to release 9,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu every day till October 15, 2012.

The apex court had on September 28 pulled up Karnataka for not complying with the direction of CRA, which is headed by the Prime Minister. With both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu not budging from their positions, Justice Lodha suggested that the matter be referred to CRA to look into the Cauvery Monitoring Committee's decision on release of water.

"An order was passed by CMC. You are aggrieved with it. You can go before CRA, and if you are still not satisfied, then you can come to us. That is the logical course to follow," Justice Lodha told Vaidyanathan.